Expectations (missed and misunderstood), communication and lack of sleep created a rough go of things.  We figured out what the problem was and fixed it, no worries there, but it reminded me about how critical it is to understand expectations well and thoroughly at the outset of a project.  All the key stakeholders need to have 1:1 interviews by the project leader.  It’s time consuming but critical.  Understanding what they need and want out of the project and what they think the output will be like are so important.  Getting a sense for their level of engagement and support will come out of these interviews as well.

Often we are eager to “get down to work” but this is a big part of the project work as well and if left undone, I think it can cause the whole project to fail or at the least cause it to miss the mark of true success.  What do you think?  Do you encounter this in your work (or personal life) as well?

One of the things I’m obsessing about lately is what comes next.  I love dreaming big, gaining traction, getting engagement and building something great with others.  It’s part of my passion and the thing that gets me going each day. 

Here I am – I have a great team and we are rounding out the foundation laying phase for our Customer Insights program.  Phase two is coming and the design is starting to take shape.  I’m at the interviewing stakeholders stage once again and ready to geek out on ideas and concepts so we can shape that into a next level roadmap.

So forgive me for my distraction, my dreamy eyed distance stare and my lack of posting.  I think that I’m going to share more of what’s going on in my head this year rather than what I have learned put into practice.  Some of it might be more about growing me than about customer experience specifics.  I hope you are along for the ride and I can learn about you too.

Let’s start with Customer Satisfaction vs. Customer Loyalty (including NPS) – what are you going to use it for? 

• Customer satisfaction is all about us – the company/product/service/employees – how did we do? 
• Customer loyalty is all about your customers and their behavior – what stories will they tell about you?  What will they say when someone asks them what they think about a company/product/service?

Picking one or the other (or using both) starts with knowing how you will use the data once you get it. 

• Customer satisfaction – great for repeatable events (like customer support or field service) that need a customer based metric on the scorecard and to drive repeatable excellence in the customer experience. 
• Customer loyalty – great for determining what stories customer’s are telling about you.  Good at showing (or even predicting) customer lifetime value.  Excellent source of customer feedback for product or brand improvement suggestions.

Once you’ve decided how you want customer feedback to apply to your business, it becomes easier to answer questions like “how often do I ask?” and “what method do I use to get the customer’s feedback?” or even “at what level do I ask the question (brand/product/service)?”  **We’ll get to these questions in my next post in this series.**

I’m big on actionable information.  I like to know what business questions customer feedback will answer or what business problems customer feedback will resolve.  It helps me find the right focus for applying customer metrics.  My program team is service oriented – we are here to help our business partners across the company and improve the customer experience at the same time.  This is important because it is feedback from the customers and my business partners that help fuel how I design a program.

These are my thoughts.  What do you think?  Share your experience with me.

Here are the areas we will cover together in the next couple of weeks:

• Strategy:
  • Appetite for risk
  • Customer focus
  • Embracing innovation
• People:
  • Executive buy-in
  • Employee engagement
  • Company culture
• Metrics:
  • Satisfaction and loyalty
  • Customer retention
  • Customer lifetime value

I look forward to hearing what you think as we go through these topics.

I’m a big believer in the power of listening and how it can help you drive excellence.  The great thing is that listening gives you insights that often did expect.  Not only should you listen to your customers, you should listen to your prospective customers and your competitors customers.  Listen, show you are listening and respond – the ultimate customer feedback loop.

And being such a great versatile tool, I apply active listening to process improvement projects as well.  Starting off a project by 1:1 interviews with all the stakeholders will go a long way to ensuring engagement and getting great potential solutions.

And lets be honest, it’s a great idea for your personal relationships too.  I’m coming up on my 15th wedding anniversary next month and we listen to each other.

How do you use active listening in your life?

The ultimate venn diagram.

So when intelligence and obsession focus on the customer, you get what I love to do.  How about you?  Are you a geek?  If so, what kind?

**UPDATE**  It appears that some are asking about the Venn diagram itself.  As in – “what goes in the bit where social ineptitude and intelligence meet?”  Answer:  Apparently, dweeb.  I do not make this stuff up, I promise!

Jun 8, 2010 – Image updated to include “Dweeb.”

This concept… to me, it’s more than just delivering information when asked.  It’s understanding when key stakeholders meet, what they discuss when they meet and what information they don’t think to ask for outside of meetings.  This forms a rhythm when you map it whole.

By doing this, we integrate our customers into the discussions and decisions of the business.  It’s rewarding to see how this can lead to a customer-centric business model.  How much do you understand of the rhythm of your business?

Perhaps it’s just me (and I trust you to tell me if I’ve gone awry) but when did predictable become a negative thing? 

When I go to a movie with my child, I want some predictability.  I want to know that we won’t have a repeat of the Happy Feet experience.  We are going for a certain type of fun and it’s satisfying when you get what you pay for.

This is a customer experience, right?  I think that many customer experiences are based in a need for predictability.  You have expectations and you want those expectations delivered upon.  Do you know what qualities your customer’s expect to have every time they use your product?  Do you know how important that predictability is to them?  Do have measures in place to ensure you don’t break those most predictable moments?

Maybe, just maybe, predictability is a lot better than we think.